


L'Illusion Comique (import from ff.net)

by moor



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-27 12:51:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17162303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moor/pseuds/moor
Summary: Zutara, Avatarverse. The Ember Island Players. Based on a prompt Taffy0823 provided for her thank-you fic. The gaang come across a play based on the Avatar's fall in the battle of Ba Sing Se's catacombs...





	L'Illusion Comique (import from ff.net)

Title:  **L'Illusion Comique**  
Category: Cartoons » Avatar: Last Airbender  
Author: moor  
Language: English, Rating: Rated: T  
Genre: Drama/Romance  
Published: 03-29-08, Updated: 03-29-08  
Chapters: 1, Words: 7,023

* * *

**Chapter 1: Chapter 1**

* * *

**Title: L'Illusion Comique  
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender  
** **Length: approx. 6500 words (about 17 pages!)  
** **Genre: Gen, drama, angst, romance  
** **Rating: T  
** **Pairing: Zutara**

**AN: This is a thank-you fic I wrote for taffy0823, who wrote me the 75** **th** **review on "Merits"! She asked for a fic based on what I thought may happen in "Ember Island Players". La voici!**

AN: Based on events that have happened up until  ** _The Firebending Masters._**

AN: As always, Avatar and its related copyrighted material belong to the rights holders. Whom I worship and thank daily for providing such fantastic entertainment, even if they are stingy gods right now and haven't released an episode in-  _WHACK!_... right, getting back to the story...

 

* * *

**L'Illusion Comique**

 

Appa landed with a light puff in the garden, and his passengers quickly, and silently, debarked and unloaded his litter. The great beast moaned pleasantly in appreciation as the last bedroll was tossed down.

"Hush, Appa," soothed Katara softly, petting one of the animal's many toes.

"Which way?" asked Sokka, glancing around the darkened vicinity and keeping his own voice low.

"Over here," already walking towards the old structure, Zuko waved and called quietly for the rest to follow him.

The descending night was stirred by a gentle wind, and the group made their way to the abandoned building without incident.

Zuko and Sokka made quick work of the door, and everyone rushed inside. Appa hid in the nearby thicket, after Katara and Aang had provided him food and water and a rough camouflage shelter.

"The windows are still boarded up, just like you said," informed Haru, and Teo nodded.

"I think we're safe to start a fire, but we better keep it small. Light's one thing, smoke's another," added the younger man.

Zuko paused before nodding his assent. "Ok, I'll be right over to-."

"Already got it," said Aang with a grin, as he lit the braise.

Everyone waited a moment before giving in to a smile.

"All right, good job, guys." Sokka unrolled the battle plan and laid it on the ground near the light of the cooking fire.

"We're really here," said The Duke in awe, gazing around what he could now see of the old mansion. "Wow..."

Toph, who'd been strangely silent until that point, sat in an ornately-wrought chair with her arms crossed, near the fireplace. "I'll be happy once we're kicking a certain Fire Lord's pompous rear end off his mighty throne- and then a safe distance  _away_  from the Fire Nation."

Katara's eyes narrowed, but not unsympathetically. "We're almost there, Toph. We'll be home soon... once it's all done."

"So is there anything to do around here while we wait?" asked Haru to change the subject, still looking around the sitting room himself.

Everyone looked at Zuko, who knew the area best.

"It's nightfall... usually just parties and beach-stuff, that kind of thing," he answered.

"Welcome to Ember Island, famous for... nothing?" quipped Sokka.

"We're trying to keep a low profile," reminded Katara. "It isn't like we came here to play, Sokka."

"Play—wait!" the firebender sat up straighter and glanced at Katara before immediately turning away again, as he always did. He and Katara were the least friendly in the group. Neither was in any hurry to mend the rift, either. "Wait, there is something Ember Island is famous for – its plays! Theatre. The Ember Island Players are a well-known Fire Nation theatre troupe. The tourist season is still going on, so they have plays almost every night. They usually do plays about major events – they're sort of like the international-news-bringers to this area..." his enthusiastic voice trailed off as the others looked at him. He hadn't been that excited since he brought back the wisdom and tradition of the Dragon Dance... and this latest proposition looked like it was heading in about the same direction with regards to positive reception...

The Avatar's earthbending master confirmed it.

Toph blew upwards at her bangs, non-plussed. "Theatre plays? No thanks, I'll pass."

Aang, relaxing on the arm of Katara's chair (he hadn't let her out of his sight since they left the Air Temple, though no one knew why), seemed to be mulling the idea over in his head. "I d'know, Toph – I think it'd be a good idea to see what's hot in the Fire Nation right now. It might give us an inside edge on Fire Lord Ozai."

"Sokka, what do you think?" his sister turned to look at their defacto leader and strategist. Zuko noted she hadn't voiced her own opinion yet, strangely enough. Usually she was one of the first to pipe up to shoot him down or ridicule him. Could she be in fact in favour of the outing? He remembered then, that she was a teenage girl still, not just a waterbender the war had forced into becoming a soldier, and that she may harbour girlish notions like... going out with her friends occasionally instead of defeating legions of enemy forces. For fun.

He glanced at the stiff bindings around her arms, and the utilitarian cut of her blouse and pants.  _Nope, still a fighter._

Zuko mentally shook his head. For all he knew she was just looking to scout the natives, to figure out how best to blend in during the day, when it would be harder to hide in shadow. He'd heard Sokka say once there was no telling what girls were thinking – in this case, he was inclined to agree.

At that moment, the man of wisdom was carefully placing charts, scrolls and paperweights in deliberate order – obviously not getting ready to go out for a night of socialising.

"I'm gonna stay here," he said, and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I need to go over these blueprints one more time... But sending a small group over should be ok. No more than 3 or 4 people. We don't want to attract attention."

"Well we're all masters of subtlety, so I'm sure we've got the incognito aspect covered," muttered Toph, thinking back to every instance of things going wrong when they tried to be stealthy. One of the most recent of which had landed herself and Katara in jail...

"Ok, then we're going!" laughed Aang, already hopping up to collect his glider. "Who's in?"

Murmurs of interest arose, but very few takers volunteered.

 _Is it because they don't like the options, or because they don't like or trust me? w_ ondered the prince awkwardly.

"Katara, you want to come, don't you?" asked Aang finally as he reached for Katara's arm. She shifted to face him, and glanced behind him to Zuko. He held her eyes a moment before turning away. She faced Aang again, and smiled.

"A play means we get to go out and have fun, right?"

"You bet!" the Air monk was pink with excitement.

"Then I'm in," she declared.

Half an hour later (Katara had insisted on 'getting dressed'), and dressed in their cloaks, Aang, Katara and Zuko bid farewell to the rest of their party and made their way to the town amphitheatre.

* * *

"I hadn't realised things were so... casual here," remarked Katara as they made their way through the bustling night market. True enough, artisans, townsfolk, and merchants were calling out to each other and to the tourists to catch their attention and sell their wares. The military presence their gang had become so accustomed to was minimal at best, a huge surprise considering this was the town of the summer residence of Fire Lord Ozai himself.

"I'd been expecting something a bit fancier, too, actually," agreed Aang, looking around just as much as Katara from under his hood.

"My father hasn't been here in a long time," said Zuko.  _Not since my mother disappeared_. Having been to Ember Island fairly recently with his sister and her friends – and his ex-girlfriend – he found the memories were less harsh on his emotions this time, though still tender. "He isn't interested in the arts, or 'relaxing' the way other people might be. And there are military personnel here – but they're on vacation, so you don't see them in uniform. Many of the Fire Navy admirals and commanders have summer shores on the beach. Their kids are more trouble than they are."

As he said it, he spotted Ruon-Jian flipping his hair near a pretty girl – until their eyes met, Ruan-Jian froze up, and then bolted away in the crowd, leaving the pretty girl standing alone and completely confused.

"Here's the theatre," changing the subject, Zuko pointed to a structure that had been carved out of the side of the cliff-face, just down from the center of the town on its main road. They followed the crowds, taking care to stick together. The banished prince saw Aang put a guiding hand on Katara's back, though he withdrew it when she turned to look at him curiously. Ushers handed them pamphlets and programmes as they entered, and they found some seats on the edge of one of the higher rows of seats.

"We'll hear the waves crashing a bit louder here, so it'll be harder to hear – but we're also closer to the exit, if we need to make a run for it," explained Katara as she sat down with a companion on either side of her. Zuko wondered briefly if she felt more comfortable knowing she was closer to her element.

 _We're also closer to the riff-raff,_  thought the young man as he spied their fellow audience-members. But we came to learn the gossip, so might as well keep an eye out... for now.

"Is there anywhere to get snacks?" asked Aang, eyeing the people beside him and their bags full of fireflakes.

"At the top of this tier, just down the hallway. Do you want to go together?"

"Nah, I should be fine," and at Katara's withering glare, he insisted, "really, I'll be totally fine. I won't talk to any strangers. Promise!" With that, he leapt up and hurried away into the crowd to leave Katara and Zuko fumbling after him.

"If we chase him now, we may lose him in all these people," she said quietly.

"If we lose him, and we're not back here in our seats, he may lose us," he agreed.

Uncomfortably, they glanced at each other and sat down again.

Both picked up their programmes and forced themselves to read the synopsis.

Zuko's stomach plummeted.

Katara went completely still.

 _'How Princess Azula and Prince Zuko Defeated the Avatar in the Catacombs of Ba Sing Se'_ was emblazoned across the front page.

"... How far can Toph 'see' with her feet?" asked Zuko evenly. "Could she have seen this? How accurate is her earth bending?"  _And why is Azula's name first?_ But he didn't dare voice the last aloud.

"We've never tested it out," grit Katara. "But I'd like to ask her that myself."

_Back at the mansion..._

Toph smiled and crunched on some nuts.

"What are you so happy about?" asked Haru, as he noticed Toph's self-satisfied smirk.

"Oh, nothing..." her foot bounced lazily in the air as she felt the tremors of Katara and Zuko's rage, from all the way across the town.

All of sudden, she tensed, however.

"Toph?" asked Sokka, looking at her more carefully.

"It's nothing... Just my imagination," she lied, and settled in again. She'd thought it would be amusing to send the trio out on their own (torturing Zuko had become a favourite pass-time of hers since he'd joined them)... but what was that other presence she thought she'd felt? It had only been a moment, but it was enough.

"Momo?" she called, and the flying lemur swooped down onto the arm of her chair to look at her, head cocked. "Aang forgot this. Could you go drop it off with him?"

After eyeing the small nut curiously for a second, the filial creature took it in his paws and flew out the partially unboarded door.

Sokka watched the exchange, but lowered his head again. Somebody would tell him if it was important.

* * *

"How flawless your plan is, Princess Azula – as expected," commented the actress playing Ty Lee on the stage below. The torches around the raised platform held off the darkness of night and lit the actors with a bright glow.

"Of course everything is just as it should be; and soon my brother, Prince Zuko, will have the last piece of the puzzle in place."

"You mean getting rid of that stupid bear?" asked the actress playing Mei, seated on a step and staring off into the audience.

"Far more important, Mei... He will soon have the trust of the Avatar's water-bending master..."

The crowd cheered wildly, and hooted in encouragement as the actors strolled off the stage confidently to the rear wings for the scene change.

In the upper tiers, near the rear exit of the amphitheatre, three individuals sat quietly with a flying lemur choking noisily on some extra-hot flaming fireflakes.

xXx

"For three years I have been banished and forced to live in exile, searching for the Avatar. Now, today, I will find out where the Avatar is, and I'll have my honour back. I will return to the Fire Nation as their Crown Prince, and I will uphold the glory of the Fire Nation!"

Again, the crowd stamped their feet in support and hollered enthusiastically for more.

Zuko sat tight-lipped in his seat, staring at the floor. From Katara's lap, Momo peeked over at him and padded at his leg curiously.

"I... I never said that." His voice was soft, to prevent other spectators from eavesdropping and to protect himself. He wasn't used to admitting he was wrong.

Katara either didn't hear him, or chose to ignore him.

Aang, however, glanced down and tried to catch Zuko's eye. "I think they're playing this up for the crowds," the monk stage-whispered knowingly from behind his hand.

Zuko's heart lightened a bit, and he went back to watching the play.

For her part, Katara kept repeating a silent prayer. It was multi-faced. Firstly, she prayed that she would not be in the play at all, as she still felt uneasiness grip her whenever she remembered the events of that day. Secondly, she prayed that if she was in the play, that the person playing her would do a great job. The gods were on holiday that night, as it turned out.

"Of course your family will be protected, if you help us," oozed the character on stage playing Zuko as he stood across the crystal catacombs from the actress playing Katara. Katara-on-stage had tears in her eyes, and held her arms close to her chest as if unsure whether she could believe him.

"You promise? You'll let my family and friends go if I give you the Avatar?" she whimpered.

" _Why you filth-eating, lying, toe-urchin-infested-,"_  seethed Katara-in-the-audience, as Aang tried to hold her down in her seat.

"Katara, people are watching..." he said quietly through his teeth.

"Your village will become Fire Nation... you will pledge allegiance to the Fire Lord, my father...  _You_  will become Fire Nation... but you will finally be a member of the most prestigious nation in the world," continued the character playing Zuko as he slowly approached Katara.

"How can I trust you?" she looked away, and swept gracefully to the side. The audience held their breath as the lighting darkened to a spotlight on the couple.

"You have the word of a prince," he whispered, and raised a hand to push a lock of dark hair away from her face. Their gazes met, and held.

"Oh please," said Katara, and the other audience members around her glared. "What?"

Zuko and Aang looked at each other uncomfortably.

"Uh, maybe we should take a short break?..." suggested Aang, trying to do a bit of preventive maintenance on their waterbending friend's currently rising temperament.

"I'm fine, Aang, really. I want to see the rest of this. I think it's very educational," she insisted, eyes focused on the stage. On the character playing herself. Aang wasn't sure, but he was starting to wonder if Katara was imagining it was Azula playing Katara, her look was so murderous towards her thespian counterpart.

"I think maybe Aang's right... why don't we get some fireflakes for your brot-," Katara cut Zuko off before he could finish.

"I'm staying."

Arms and legs crossed angrily, Katara sat back in her seat and glared straight ahead.

Behind her head, Aang and Zuko glanced apprehensively at each other again and settled back... after checking again for the nearest escape routes.

By now, Zuko and Katara (on stage) were intimately in each other's arms.

"If you promise you won't hurt him..."

"Believe me..."

"...I'll tell you where the Avatar is."

The lighting on the stage softened, and spread in a line to illuminate a path behind Katara to a jut-out of crystals lumped to look like an outcropping of rock. A young Fire Nation man in orange and yellow robes stood there staring angrily at the couple. Around him exploded the rock and blue light dazzled in special effects, and Zuko seized Katara before roughly shoving her away to face Aang.

From the rear of the stage came a cackle of female laughter.

"You're ours, Avatar!"

" _NO!"_ screamed Katara, and her sobbing rang out through the theatre.

The stage went black as the lights extinguished in a heartbeat.

"Katara, we don't have to stay," said Aang softly as he put a hand on his friend's shoulder.

Shaking her head, the young woman rubbed her eyes and refused to move.

The rest of the audience was paying too rapt attention to the wild battle on stage to notice the only non-cheering members in the audience. Unsure of what to do, Zuko sat in his seat and half-watched the events on stage, and half-watched his companions.

"That wasn't what happened, Aang. You have to believe me," she said.

"I know – I was still there for that part!" he grinned cheesily, then sobered a bit, thoughtfully. "Well... most of that part..." The sentence hung as he realised he and Katara hadn't really spoken about what she and Zuko had discussed prior to his arrival in the cavern with Iroh.

On-stage Iroh had joined the wild battle and was fighting with Azula and trying to help the Avatar overtake the Fire Nation.

"You traitor – our father will have you imprisoned for life for this!" shrieked the princess as she firebended at the Avatar on stage. (The actor playing Azula was a very adept firebender, but lacked the blue flame Azula had unleashed that day in the catacombs.)

"I thought I could trust you!" cried Katara from the side of the stage where she and Zuko fought mercilessly.

"Think again, waterbender – thanks to you, I'll be known as the greatest hero in the Fire Nation! And you'll be known as the greatest traitor in yours!"

"I thought you had changed!"

"I have changed," sneered Zuko, "I've gotten better!"

"I hate you! I'll kill you!" screamed Katara-on-stage wildly.

In another part of the stage, the Avatar was slowly rising up in a misty smoke, apparently going into his 'Avatar state'.

"Princess Azula, prepare to fall! I, the Avatar, will strike you down!"

"Azula, listen to the Avatar. He is mighty and we should follow his lead if we don't want to fall victim to him like our compatriots in the North Pole," advised Uncle Iroh as he preached from behind another outcropping of crystal. He ducked his head down and called again for his family to surrender.

 _They're portraying him as a coward,_ realised Zuko from his seat in the stands, and felt his gut clench guiltily.  _I'd thought he was a coward, too... But he was the strongest one of all of us. How can they portray him like this?..._

"Prince Zuko!" screamed Azula. "Now!"

"Arrrrghhhh!" His battle-cry resounded through the theatre, and a fearsome jet of fire erupted from his hand as he struck the Avatar.

"Agh!"

The slight body of the young man tumbled down in a flurry of orange and yellow material, to crash behind a high pile of rocks on stage.

"Avatar, no!" Katara ran towards the pile and Iroh covered their flank in his own attempt to escape.

"We need to get out of here," said the older gentleman, huffing and puffing in exertion as he tried to bypass the wounded young benders.

"Avatar, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." the waterbender bent over her friend lovingly, her shoulders shaking and her tears flowing. "I led him to where we were hiding in the catacombs, I trusted him and he betrayed me."

"No, Katara," rasped out the Avatar in her arms.

Azula and Zuko, palms outstretched in preparation to fire a last, finishing blow, approached agonizingly slowly. The stage, which had been lit up so brilliantly a moment before during the battle was now dimming, the spotlight focusing more and more on the young Water Tribe woman and her dying comrade. "I thought you would protect me. Instead, you betrayed me." His head dropped.

"Avatar!" wailed Katara piteously, clutching her dead friend in her arms.

The lights dimmed to black just as a jet of mist spread through the stage, signaling their escape.

xXx

The three young benders in the stands sat together, each lost in their own thoughts, as the crowd around them cheered wildly for the splendid (if overdramatic) action on stage.

Each member of the trio knew that wasn't how the real events had taken place, not really. Each knew they had fought to the best of their own abilities and knowledge. And yet each felt their own sense of guilt, of ownership of the failure they had suffered, and an overwhelming need to explain themselves to the others and make them understand this wasn't what he or she had meant to happen, and to apologise. To beg forgiveness most of all.

One of the stage hands announced there would be a very brief intermission while the rest of the cast prepared for the finale; without a word to hint to the others of her intentions, Katara stood and headed for the exit. Aang and Zuko followed.

Just as they left the theatre they heard the crowds rise up and cheer madly for the last scene.

"My people...," they heard the actor playing Zuko address the audience from the raised dais on stage. "... I have returned and reclaimed my honour!"

The hooting and stomping and applause brought the house down and signaled the first of several curtain calls.

"Sounds like we're missing the best part... you sure you don't want to see the end?" Aang asked Zuko as they left the amphitheater.

Not turning back, Zuko remembered the original version clearly. "No."

* * *

Nocturnal insects hummed, chirped, and hiccuped as the intimate group made their way down the quiet streets to return to the mansion. To one side, the crashing waves echoed and beckoned passerby to spend some time on the sandy shores; on the other side, the buildings, storefronts and market carts had closed up tight to sleep for the night. The only outbursts of liveliness erupted from the occasional tavern or inn, where food and drink were still being served.

The two young men trailed a bit behind Katara to give her some privacy; they weren't sure what was wrong, but could feel she needed some time to herself. They kept to themselves, slowly meandering on the street. Katara was a short distance ahead of her two companions . The slender young woman easily side-stepped the puddles near the gutters, and paused as she arrived at a break in the storefronts to see the midnight depths with their white-tipped crests breaking on the shores.

When Zuko and Aang glanced up a moment later, all they caught was a fleeting glimpse of Katara's sandals as she disappeared around the corner towards the beach.

The two young men glanced at each other before the younger quickened his pace after her. Unsure of whether to follow, the taller youth hesitated when he reached the alley his two allies had hurried down.

"The beach again," he said quietly to himself.

xXx

Katara listened to the sound of the water and found it comforting on her raw emotions. The ebb and flow, the rhythms, the cascades each felt like they were removing a bind from around her worn heart. Part of her wanted to waterbend, to thrash the water around to exorcise the guilt and nervous tension from herself, to exhaust herself so she could sleep and go back to ignoring how terrible she still felt about the events in the catacombs. A greater part of her, a part just as true, overruled the recklessness that threatened to overtake her and instead she stood facing the water and taking nothing but solace in its vast presence. The water continued, always continued, and reminded her she could continue, too. Instinctively, she felt the breath enter and leave her body in cycles, as if meditating. The meditation brought her peace.

Some time later, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Katara?"

His gray eyes probed hers in concern. "You ok?"

She nodded from under her hood. "Yeah."

"Do you want to practice?" he asked, still uncertain if she were really as 'ok' as she claimed.

Shaking her head a little, the waterbender took a breath and let it out slowly. "No thanks, Aang. I'm just going to stay here. It's ok, I know the way back. You should get back and rest, I know Sokka wants to talk to you again about the plan."

"I'll stay, it's ok," he grinned supportively, and made to plop down on the ground at her feet to wait out her meditation.

"Aang, really... I'm sorry, I just... Could I have some time to myself? Please..." she asked softly, and caught his arm to prevent him from establishing himself in the sand they were sharing.

"Do you want to talk?" he asked, and Katara felt his heartbeat quicken in anxiety. She knew he was getting worked up, could read it in his face as easily as she could feel his blood starting to rush.

Forcing herself to look happy for him, she pasted a smile on and faked a laugh. "Aang! It's a girl thing – sometimes we need some time to ourselves! I'm fine, I just want to enjoy the ocean a bit longer before I join you guys back at the house. I'll come see you when I get in, ok?"

Still unconvinced, Aang waited, watching her. The water continued its push and pull alongside them, lending its breakers to the background noise.

"... Katara," he began again, but she gave him a gentle shove on the arm to send him on his way.

"I'm a master waterbender with an ocean at my disposal – I don't think you need to worry about me," she assured him with a wry angle to her eyebrow.

"But I think we need to talk," he pushed, and stood closer to her.

She realised with a start he was almost as tall as she was now, and they were standing almost eye-to-eye. The warmth of their bodies from beneath their cloaks mingled in the small space between them.

"I promise we'll talk when I get back. But right now, Aang," she said slowly, "I need to be by myself."

His breathing became harder, rougher and he looked at her unhappily before glancing away. There was obviously something he was desperate to discuss with her, but she wasn't giving him an opening.

"Fine," he muttered, "I'll see you at the house with everyone else."

"Aang," she whispered, but too quietly for him to hear as he walked dejectedly back along the beach towards their temporary base of command.

He wasn't yet out of sight when she let her shoulders slump, her face crack and her tears fall. She slumped to the sandy ground and cried to empty her heart.

 _Sometime girls really need their alone time so they can have a good cry, you stupid idiot,_ she wanted to yell at him.  _That's all I need. I just need to get this out one last time, and then it'll never bother me again..._

The waves roared on and she pulled her cloak closer to huddle in its warmth, and in turn the warmth of her tears slid down the sides of her face into her hands.

Hidden from view by the alley's shadow, Zuko watched the teenage guardian of the Avatar quietly cry herself out.

xXx

The moon hung over the ocean and reflected on the surface, far out to sea, and blue eyes fastened on it like a life preserver.

Katara had stopped crying an hour or so ago, and just sat in the sand watching the water and the starry sky as she gathered herself. It was very peaceful.

So peaceful she could hear every sound, even over the rush of the water, including the swish of the footstep on the sand behind her.

"Who's there?" she leapt up, arms (and water behind her) raised to defend against an attack.

Zuko's arms were raised in front of him defensively. "Whoa, whoa, sorry... I was just... uh..." Her eyes were cold as glaciers as she glared at him, and he lost his words. "Uh... are you... I was just walking by, and saw you, and..."

The young man swallowed and tried to find a way out of his awkward position.

"Are you ok?" he asked finally, and settled in for a possible whooping of master-waterbender-proportions.

"I'm fine. How long have you been watching me?" she demanded, lowering her arms. The abnormally high tide receded in turn.

"I asked you first."

"It's a full moon, I have an entire ocean behind me, and  _you're_ making _demands?_ " her high, strident voice was incredulous.

While he had never been known for his cunning, Zuko admitted to himself he should have perhaps put a bit more thought into his last reply.

He kept his next response short to avoid further antagonism.

"Yes."

"Argh!" she threw down her hands and glowered. The ocean crept up the sand incrementally.

...And perhaps that second reply, too, could have used more forethought, he realised a bit too late.

"How dare you! I wanted to have some privacy!"

"Then you shouldn't have made your way to a giant public beach!" he countered before he could stop himself.

"Well you shouldn't have followed me!"

"You sent away the one other person who wanted to help you!"

"Leave Aang out of this!"

"You're already doing a great job of that! The kid's in love with you and you don't even have the guts to reject him outright!"

"He's not a kid and he doesn't- I mean, it's not what you- that has nothing to do with this, it's just... Oh get lost, Zuko!"

"I can't get lost, this is my island!"

"Then get off my beach!"

His fists bunched at his sides in frustration, Zuko tossed his head back and snorted fire through his nose. The sight was startling enough it froze Katara in place.

"Would you listen to yourself?" he shouted at her, no longer caring to remain inconspicuous. "Are you really the same person I spoke to in the caves of Ba Sing Se? The one who offered to help heal her enemy, the one who trusted in her friends above all else, the one who loved everyone unconditionally?"

The sand shifted beneath his feet as he approached her and she glared right back at him, refusing to back down.

"Are you the same person you said you were?" she threw back sarcastically. "I thought you'd changed then, too, but everyone's gotta be wrong sometime."

"I'm sorry!" he hollered in her face, shaking with emotion as he pulled at his hair. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" The tendons in his neck stretched tight as they corded under his skin and his good eye was wide as he stared into her blue ones.

"I made a mistake. I made a huge mistake. I don't even know how to tell you how... But I've been trying to make up for it. I've even been trying to be a good person to everyone in your group, knowing they probably hate me and they have every reason not to trust me. I don't have close friends. I don't have  _any_  friends. I don't even have family anymore. I have no one."  _Even Uncle left me._  "But I'm trying. Now, after I see you push away the friends who want to help you, after I see you crying yourself raw on the beach alone, after I try to reach out a hand to help you up, after I see all that and have you attack me?"

He rushed on. "What happened to that brave girl in the catacombs who was willing to fight the entire Dai Li and the Fire Nation royal family's masters? What happened to the one person who would give me a chance, when no one else would? What happened to that waterbender? Why is she pushing people away, when, in her place, I'd give anything to have someone reach out their hand to me?"

The water held its position behind the young woman, neither moving forward nor backward as she stood face to face with the banished prince. The wind picked up slightly and blew her hood down from her head, loosening her hair around her tight face. She didn't have an answer for him.

He continued on. "I have been trying to move on, Katara," he said her name for the first time. "I know I did something wrong. But instead of letting it eat at me, and stifle me, and hurt me, I'm trying my best to make up for it and move on."

Cautiously he reached out to touch her shoulder, praying fervently he was at least as quick as she was.

"Your friends have given me a chance to make up for what I did. Why can't you do the same for yourself?"

He looked down at her through his golden eyes, one good, one damaged, and held her shoulders, feeling how deceptively slight she truly was underneath the cloak.

"Because I'm worried I'll really lose him if I screw up again," she pulled her lip into her mouth and bit down, trying to prevent the tears from starting up again. "Ok? I'm worried I'm going to fail him again. It was my fault I got... distracted in the caves, my fault I wasn't strong enough to beat you and your sister, and my fault I couldn't heal him better when he... when he..." Dark hair hid her as she ducked her head and covered her face with her hands, refusing to cry again. It took her a few moments to regain her composure, but she did; Zuko quietly admired her resilience.

Impulsively, he squeezed her shoulders gently and warmed his hands to try and relax her.

"Hey," he said with a faint grin, "if even I can make amends – or at least try to – I think you still have a shot."

To his surprise, she chuckled. "You're not going to try and get me to learn the Dragon Dance so I can better protect Aang, are you?"

"Hey, that's an ancient, ritual, firebending form that has been passed down for-," he started indignantly, and huffed as he straightened.

But Katara laughed, and kept laughing. Zuko felt his face grow warm and wondered if he'd said something embarrassing again.

After a few seconds, the young woman calmed down and let out a long breath before leaning forward to lean on his chest, between her hands that had already been clinging to his cloak-front to hold herself up while her laughter abated. It was quiet a moment, as they both stood there.

"I'm sorry," said Katara quietly as she stared at the sand.

"Hm?" he asked, and looked down – and was startled when he realised she was still clinging to him, and he was holding her, his hands having moved from her shoulders down her arms to cradle her in an embrace. He flushed scarlet, but didn't dare move for fear of alerting her to their closeness. He wasn't sure if he wanted it to halt the closeness or continue.

"I'm sorry... for what I've said to you. How I've treated you. Everything," she explained haltingly. "I shouldn't have threatened you in your room the day you came to teach Aang firebending. I shouldn't have... I should have at least treated you with respect."

"I think I'd have thought I was walking into a trap if you'd have done that, actually," he mused aloud, and grimaced. His cloak fell back to reveal his face, and he rested his chin casually on her head. He didn't know why, but he felt it was ok to do so tonight. Not that he wasn't expecting her to inflict a great and terrible punishment on him later for being so close to her, but for now...

The woman in his arms chuckled again, and Zuko felt his embarrassment and discomfort melt away, to be replaced by a warm pride that started in his core and moved slowly to fill every part of his body.

"Zuko, after... after we're done with your, uh, dad," Katara said a bit awkwardly. "Would you come with me to the Spirit Oasis?"

"Why?"

"... You don't have to if you don't want to, but... if you do want to, I can try and... heal your scar. Like I said I would, down in the catacombs."

He stilled. It was then he realised he'd been swaying ever so slightly with her, and his cloak had shifted slightly to wrap around them both and warm her further.

"Only if you want to," she said, and looked up at him then to see his reaction.

 _Could it really happen?_ he wondered, and remembered the feel of her soft hand on the toughened scar. At that moment, in the crystal-lit labyrinth, it had seemed like a dream.  _And now? Could it really..._

As he looked down at her thoughtfully, his mouth was inches from hers and her blue eyes shone black in the darkness.

"Zuko? Do you want... to?..." her voice was too quiet. She was noticing their intimacy, too.

_Yes._

The prince's arms shifted slightly, holding her body to him. Her breath held a note of huskiness, and it spurred him on.

_Yes._

One of his hands moved to her hip, the other moved up her side, up her arm, softly touched her hair and rested on her cheek. As he touched her neck he felt her pulse race.

_Yes._

He pulled her up to meet him. They closed their eyes.

The waves crashed around them.

* * *

"Man you guys are late. We were about to send a search party," said The Duke as Zuko and Katara tried unsuccessfully to sneak in to the semi-occupied abandoned mansion in the wee hours of the morning.

"Did you get lost?" asked Haru, eyeing Zuko strangely. "I thought you knew this place? Aang said you all got separated earlier."

"We found each other on the beach," said Zuko, hanging his cloak over a piece of furniture before collecting his bedroll and moving to the rest of the group's scattered sleeping blankets.

"I'm gonna go find Aang," said Katara to no one in particular, but somehow Zuko knew he was the one she was addressing.

"Night," he said.

"Night," she replied, and went to find Appa, where she knew Aang was probably curled up.

For her part, Toph chewed the inside of her cheek stubbornly and bitterly wished she'd found a sifu to teach her sandbending. At least that familiar presence had abandoned Aang, Katara, and Zuko after the trio had left the theatre.

* * *

"Mr. Mushi," said one of the stagehands bluntly. "Are you done spying on that young couple?" He glared and held out his hands. "We need to put the spyglass back in the prop box."

"Sure, sure, steal an old man's only happiness," he grumbled, and tossed the instrument away carelessly.

The crewman looked at the peeping tom geezer and backed away awkwardly.

* * *

**The end.**

**AN: Taffy, I hope you liked it! I know it needs work - but I wanted to make sure I got it up before the episode was aired. (I'll re-work this when I return from Taipei, in May - please submit as much concrit as you want by then, it'll help me improve it and make it a better 'thank you' for taffy!)**  
AN: Thank you for reading!  
AN: First posted March 30th, 2008.


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